September 2025 – Claretbumbler

A very short session

I managed to squeeze in an hour with the rods yesterday. I was passing over the Shannon as I was heading back to Mayo from the east coast. In anticipation of just such an opportunity, I had stowed some gear in the back of the car and was able to try out a new venueContinueContinue reading “A very short session”

Back at the vice

After a l-o-n-g hiatus, I have returned to the vice and started to do a bit of fly tying. 2025 will go down for me as the year when I hardly fished, did almost no ghillieing and tied virtually no flies. The good news is that most of the big non-fishing jobs required of meContinueContinue reading “Back at the vice”

Autumn coarse fishing

It had been an odd sort of a weekend, and by Sunday I was jaded and restless. A decision was taken to move my neglected boat off lough Conn for the winter, so my mate and I drove out to Pike Bay with my trailer on a bright but cold autumn day. The car parkContinueContinue reading “Autumn coarse fishing”

Acres and Acres

It stopped raining this morning. Given that it has been pissing down for days on end this was big news. All my local rivers are over their banks, the loughs are full to overflowing and still rising. The forecast was for the rain to return by 4pm, so there was a wee window of opportunityContinueContinue reading “Acres and Acres”

Another tough day on Carra

My plans to do a lot of fishing on Carra this season turned to dust, but I did manage to get out one last time last Sunday. It was the final competition for the club, a day which the forecasters had predicted would be one of gales and torrential rain. Strange as it may seem,ContinueContinue reading “Another tough day on Carra”

A long day

One advantage of my former career as an Interim Manager was that I got to meet a huge number of people. Some I had only minimal interaction with, but many others became friends who I am still in contact with. My last assignment in Clara, Co. Offaly was supposed to last three months but IContinueContinue reading “A long day”